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OLEOMAKGARINE BUTTER: 



THE NEW ARTICLE OF COMMERCE. 



CHEMICALLY ANALYZED BY THE MOST SKILLFUL AND DISTINGUISHED 

SCIENTISTS, 

Demois^strati^g its Purity. 




A'.vard of the Americ<\n Institute, and Opinions of Prof. C. F. Chandler, President oj 
the Ne'.v York Hoard of Health ; Prof. George F. Barker, of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania ; Dr. Henry A. Mott, Jr., of New York; Prof. S. C. Caldwell, of Cornell 
University ; Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College; Prof. C. A. Goessmann, of 
the Massachusetts Agricultural College ; Prof. Henry Morton, of the 
Stevens Institute of Technology, of Hoboken ; Dr. Charles P. Wh.liams, 
of Philadelphia ; Prof. Atwatrr, of the Wesleynn University, and 
Prof. Arnold, oy the University of New York. 



NEW YORK: 

COMMERCIAL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, 

48th Street and Nokth River, 

1880. 



0LE0MAEGAEI5E BUTTEB: 



THE NEW ARTICLE OF COMMERCE, 



CHEMICALLY ANALYZED BY THE MOST SKILLFUL AKD DISTINGXJISnED 

SCIENTISTS, 



Demois^steati^^g its Purity, 



/ 



Award of the American Institute, attd Opinions of Pkof. C. F. Chandler, President of 
the New York Board of Health ; Prof. George F, Barker, of the University of Pennsyl- 
vania ; Dr. Henry A. Mott, Jr., of New York ; Prof. S. C. Caldwell, of Cornell 
University ; Prof. S. W. Johnson, of Yale College; Prof. C. A. Goessmann, of 
the Massachusetts Agricultural College ; Prof. Henry Morton, of the 
Stezie7is Institute of Technology^ of Hoboken ; Dr. Charles P. Williams, 
l^f*^ ' of PJiiladelphia ; Pro?. Atwater, of the Wesley an University, and 

' '^' I Prof. Arnold, of the University of New York. 



V 




NEW YOEK: 
COMMERCIAL MAKUFACTURING COMPANY, 

4:8th Street and North Eiver, 
' 1S80. 



OLEOMARGARINE BUTTER. 



Answer of Prof. Chandler to a Congressional Inquiry. 

Hon. Morgan K. Wise of Pennsylvania, Chairman 
of the Committee on Manufactures, of the House of 
Kepresentatives, addressed a ietter to Prof. Charles F. 
Chandler, President of the New York Board of Health, 
informing him that tlie Committee lias under considera- 
tion a bill in relation to adulterations in food and drink, 
and askinoj whether the article known as Oleomaro-arine, 
or Butterine is wholesome or unwholesome, and for such 
other information as might be in the possession of the 
Board. The following is Prof. Chandler's response: 



Health Depaktment, 301 Mott Street, 
New York, Ifarch 2?, 1880. 
My Dear Sir : 

In reply to your letter of inquiry, I would say that I 
have been familiar with the discovery of Mege Mouries 
and its application in the manufacture of artificial butter, 
called '' Butterine," or " Oleomargarine," since the date 
of its first publication. 



I have frequently seen it manufactured, witnessing all 
the operations, and examining both tlie material and the 
product. 

I liave studied the subject with special reference to 
the question of its use as food, in comparison with the 
ordinary butter made from cream, and have satisfied 
myself that it is quite as valuable as the butter from 
the cow ; that the material from which it is manufactured 
is pei'fectly fresh beef suet; that the processes are harm- 
less; that the manufacture is conducted with great clean- 
liness. The product is palatable and wholesome, and I 
regard it as a most valuable article of food, and consider 
the discovery of Mege Mouries as marking an era in the 
chemistr}^ of the fats. 

Butterine is manufactured of uniform quality the year 
round, and can Ije sold at a price far below that at which 
ordinary ])utter is sold. It does not readily become 
rancid, and is free from the objectionable taste and odor 
which characterize a large proportion of the butter sold 
in this market. 

I am informed thattliere are at present thirteen factories 
in the United States licensed under the patents to manu- 
facture this butter. Tlie Commercial ManufacturinQj 
Company of New York is making at the present from 
30,000 to 40,000 lbs. daily. In addition to this industry, 
there is a large manufacture of what is known as 
" oleomargarine oil," which is shipped as such to Europe, 
to be there converted into butter; so tliat this product 
has become an important article of export to foreign 
countries. 

The beef suet which was formerly converted into com- 
mon tallow, only suital)le for the manufacture of soap, is, 
by this beautiful discovery, now manufactured into oleo- 



margarine oil and stearine of double the value of the 
tallow formerly produced. The following analyses made 
by Drs. Brown and Mott sufficiently illustrate the com- 
position of the Butterine : 



Ciiiistitiients. 



No. 1. 

Natural 
Butter. 



No. 2. 

Artificial 
Butter. 



Water 11,968 11,203 

Butter solids 88,032 88,797 



fOlein 

Palmatin. 

Insol. fats <| Stearine . 

Arachin . 

^ Myristin . 

( Butyrin . 

Sol. fats ^Caprin.. 

1^ Caprylin 

Casein 

Salt 



100.000 100.000 
23.824 24.893 



51.422 56.29 



7.432 

.192 
5.1G2 
Coloring matter Trace. 



1.823 

,621 

5.162 

Trace. 



88.032 88.797 

Last winter a resolution was adopted by the Legis- 
lature of the State of New York, requesting the Board 
of Health of the City of New York to investigate the 
subject and report whether in its opinion the Butterine 
is a wholesome article of food. In response to this 
resolution, the Board of Health stated that in its opinion 
there is no sanitary objection whatever to the unrestricted 
manufacture and sale of this substance. 

In support of my opinion herein expressed, I enclose 
the statement to the same effect made by Prof. George 
F. Barker, of the University of Pennsylvania; Dr. Henry 
A. Mott, Jr., of Ne^v York; Prof. S. C. Caldwell, of 
Cornell University; Prof. S.W. Johnson, of Yale College; 
Prof. C. A. Goessmann, of the Massachusetts Agri- 
cultural College; Prof. Henry Morton, of the Stevens 



6 

Institute of Teclmology, of Hoboken; Dr. Clias. 
P. Williams of Pliiladelpliia ; Prof. W. O. Atwater, of 
the Wesleyau University at Middletown, Conn.; and 
Prof. J. W. S. Arnold, of the Medical Department of 
the University of New York. 

Hoping that this, my reply, contains all tlie infoi*ma- 
tion you desire, I remain, 

Very respectfully yours, 

ClI. F. ClIANDLEE, Ph.D., 

Prest. of the Board of Health. 

To Hon. M. E. Wise, 

Chairman of the Committee on Manufactvres, 
House of Representatives, Washington, D. C. 



(^Letter from Prof. Barlcer.^ 

UisrivEnsiTY OF Pennsylvania, 1 

Philadelphia, March 22, 1880. j 
The United States Dairy Co. : 

Gentlemen : — In reply to your inquiry, I would say 
that I have been acquainted for several years \vith the 
discovery of Mege-Mouries for producing Butterine 
from oleomargarine fat. In theory, the process should 
yield a product resembling butter in all essential respects, 
having identically the same fatty constituents. The 
Butterine prejoared under the inventor's patents is, there- 
fore, in my opinion, quite as valuable a nutritive agent 
as butter itself. In practice, the process of manufacture, 
as I have witnessed it, is conducted with care and great 
cleanliness. The Butterine produced is pure and of 
excellent quality, is perfectly wholesome, and is desirable 
as an article of food. I can see no reason why Butterine 
should not be an entirely satisfactory equivalent for 
ordinary butter, ^vhether considered from the physio- 
logical or commercial standpoint. 

Kespectfully yours, 

GEOBGE F. BARKER. 



{Letter from Prof, Morton?) 

Stevens Institute of Technology, 
HoBOKEN, New Jeksey, March 16, 1880 
United States Dairy Co. : 

Gentlemen : — During the last three years I have had 
occasion to examine the product known as artificial 
butter, Oleomargarine, or Butterine, first produced by 
M. Mege, of Paris, and described by him in his patent 
of July 17th, 1869. 

I have also frequently witnessed the manufacture of 
this material, and with these opportunities of knowing 
exactly what it is, I am able to say with confidence that 
it contains nothing whatever which is injurious as an 
article of diet; but, on the contrary, is essentially identi- 
cal with the best f]-esh butter, and is very superior to 
much of tlie butter made from cream alone which is 
found in the market. 

The conditions of its manufacture involve a degree of 
cleanliness and consequent purity in the product, such as 
are by no means necessarily or genei'ally attained in the 
ordinary making of butter from ci'eani. 

Yours, etc., 

HENEY MORTON. 



{Letter from Prof. Jolmson.') 

Sheffield Scientific School of Yale College 
New Haven, Connecticut, March 20th, 1880." 
The United States Dairy Co. : 

Gentlemen : — I am acquainted with the process dis- 
covered by M. Mege, for j)roducing the article known in 
commerce as Oleomargarine or Butterine. 

I have witnessed the manufacture in all its stages, as 
carried out on the large scale, and I can assert that when 
it is conducted according to the specifications of M. Mege, 
it cannot fail to yield a product that is entirely attractive 



imd wholesome as food, and one tliat is for all ordinary 
culinary and nutritive purposes the full equivalent of 
good butter made from cream. 

Oleomargarine Butter has the closest resemblance to 
butter made from cream in its external qualities— color, 
flavor, and texture. It has the same appearance under 
the microscope, and in chemical composition differs not 
in the nature, but only in the proportions of its com- 
ponents. It is therefore fair to pronounce them essentially 
identical. 

While Oleomargarine contains less of those flavoring 
principles which characterize the choicest butter, it is, 
perhaps, for that very reason, comparatively free from the 
tendency to change and taint which speedily renders a 
large proportion of butter unfit for human food. 

I regard the manufacture of Oleomargarine or 
Butterine as a legitimate and beneficent industry. 

S. W. JOHNSON, 

Professor of Theoretical and Agricultural Chemistry ; Director of the 
Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station. 



{Letter from Prof. Caldwell^ 

Chemical Laboratory, Cornell University, 
Ithaca, N. Y., March 20, 1880. 

I have witnessed, in all its stages, the maaiufacture 
of "Oleomargarine" and of Oleomargarine Butter or 
" Butterine." 

The process for Oleomargarine when properly conducted, 
as in tlie works of the Commercial Manufacturing Co., 
is cleanly throughout, and includes every reasonable 
precaution necessary to secure a product entirely free 
from animal tissue, or any other impurity, and which 
shall consist of pure fat made up of tlie fats commonly 
known as oleine and margarine. It is, when thus 
prepared, a tasteless and inodorous substance, possessing 



no qualities whatever that can make it in the least 
degree unwholesome when used in reasonable quantities 
as an article of food. 

In the manufacture of Butterine, since nothing but 
milk, annotto, and salt, together with perhaps a little 
water from clean ice, are added to this Oleomargarine, 
to be intimately mixed with it by churning and other 
operations, I have no hesitation in affirming that this 
also, when properly made according to the Mege patent 
and other patents held by the United States Dairy Co., 
and when used in reasonable quantities, is a perfectly 
wholesome article of food ; and that, while not equal to 
fine butter in respect to flavor, it nevertheless contains 
all the essential ingredients of butter, and since it 
contains a smaller proportion of volatile fats than is 
found in genuine butter, it is, in my opinion, less liable 
to become rancid. 

It cannot enter into competition with fine butter ; but 
in so far as it may serve to drive poor butter out of the 
market, its manufacture will be a public benefit. 

S. C. CALDWELL. 



(^Letter from Prof. Goessmann.) 

Amherst, Mass., March 20, 1880. 
United States Daiky Co., New York : 

Gentlemen: — I have visited, on the 17th and 18th of 
the present month, your factory, on West Forty-eighth 
Street, for the purpose of studying your mode of applying 
Mege's discovery for the manufacture of Oleomargarine 
Butter or Butterine. A careful examination into the 
character of the material turned to account, as well as 
into the details of the entire management of the manu- 
facturing operation, has convinced me that your product 
is made with care, and furnishes thus a wholesome 
article of food. Your Oleomargarine Butter or Butterine 



10 

compares in general appearance and in taste very favor- 
al)ly with the average quality of the better kinds of the 
dairy butter in our markets. In its composition it 
resembles that of the ordinary dairy butter ; and in its 
keeping quality, under corresponding circumstances, I 
believe it will surj)ass the former; for it contains a 
smaller percentage of those constituents (glycerides of 
volatile acids) which, in the main, cause the well known 
rancid taste and odor of a stored butter. 

I am very respectfully yours, 

C. A. GOESSMANN, Ph.D., 

Professor of Chemistry. 



(^Letter from Dr. Wilh'ams.) 

Laboratory, I^o. 912 Samson Street, 

Philadelphia, Jlarch, 22, 1880. 

During a period of upwards of two years I have been 
practically familiar with the details of the manufacture 
by the Mege method of Oleomargarine Butter or " But- 
terine." From my experience and observation of the 
care and cleanliness absolutely necessar}^ in the manu- 
facture of tliis product, together with my knowledge of 
its composition, I am satisfied that it is a pure and 
wholesome article of food, and in this respect, as well as 
in respect to its chemical composition, fully the equivalent 
of the best quality of dairy butter. 

I will add further, that, owing to the presence of a 
less quantity of the volatile fats, the kee])ing qualities 
of the Oleomargarine Butter are far superior to those of 
the dairy product. 

CHARLES P. WILLIAMS, Ph.D., 

Analyltical Chemist; late Director and Professor Missoxtri School of Mines, 

State University. 



11 

(^Letter from Dr. Mott.) 

11. A. Mott, Jr., Ph.D., E.M., 
Analytical and Consulting Chemist. 

Office, 117 Wall Street, 

New York, March 12, 1880. 
United States Dairy Co.: 

Gentlemen : — Having l)een acquainted for the past six 
years with the process of the manufacture of the product 
called Oleomargarine Butter, or Butterine, and having 
made numerous microscopical and chemical examinations 
of the product, I am clearly of the opinion that the 
product called Oleomargarine Butter is essentially 
identical with butter made from cream ; and as the 
former contains less of those fats which, when decom- 
posed, render tlie product rancid, it can be kept pure 
and sweet for a much longer time. 

I consider the product of the Mege discovery a per- 
fectly pure and wholesome article of food, which is 
destined to supplant the inferior grades of butter, and 
be placed side by side with the best product of the 
creamery. 

Respectfully, 

HENKY A. MOTT, Jr., Ph.D. 



(^Letter from Prof. Arnold.) 

University Physiological Laboratory, 
410 East 26th St., April 2, 1880. 

This is to certify that I have carefully examined the 
"Mege Patent Pi-ocess" for the manufacture of Oleo- 
margarine Butter or Butterine ; that I have seen and 
tasted at the factory each and every ingredient 
employed ; that I have made thorough microscopical 
examinations of the materials used and of the butter; 
and I consider that each and every article employed in 



12 

the manufacture of Oleomargarine Butter or Bntterine 
is perfectly pure and wholesome ; that the Olec^margarine 
Butter differs in no essential manner from l)utter made 
from cream ; in fact, the Oleomargarine Butter possesses 
the advantage over natural butter of not decomposing 
so readily, as it contains fewer volatile fats. In my 
opinion, Oleomargarine is to be considered a great dis- 
covery, a blessing for the poor, and in every way a 
perfectly pure, ^vholesome, and palatable article of food. 

J. W. S. ABNOLD, A.M., M.D., 

Prof. Physiology and Histology,, Med. Dep. Univ. New York. 



(^Letter from, Prof. Atwater.) 

Wesleyan Univeksity, 
MiDDLETOWN, CoNN., Marcli, 29, 1880. 

I have carefully looked into the theory and the 
practice of the manufacture of Butterine (Oleomai'garine) 
by the " Mege process," and examined the product. A 
consideration of the materials used, the process of manu- 
facture, and the chemical and microscopical character of 
the Butterine, seem to me to fully justify the following 
statements : 

As to its qualitative composition, it contains essentially 
the same ingi-edients as natural butter from cows' milk. 

Quantitatively, it differs from ordinary butter in 
having but little of the volatile fats which, while they 
are agreeable in flavor, are, at the same time, liable to 
rancidity. I should, accordingly, expect Butterine to 
keep better than ordinary butter. The best evidence 
within my reach indicates that just such is the case. 
The butterine is perfectly wliolesome and healthy, and 
has a high nutritious value. The same entirely favorable 
opinion I find expressed by the most prominent European 



13 

authorities — English, French and German— who are 
unanimous in their high estimate of the value of the 
" Mege discovery," and approval of the material whose 
production has thereby been made practicable. 

I am very truly yours, 

W. O. ATWATER. 



Award of the American Institute. 

Office of the General Superintendent of the ] 

American Institute of the City of ISFew York, >- 

New York, Marcli 24th, 1880. ) 

Copy of the Judges' Re]iort in Depai'tment VIL, Group 3, 
at the Forty-seventh Exhibition of the American 
Institute, held in the City of New York, October 
and November, 1878. 

No. 879.— OLEOMARGAEINE BUTTER. 
Commercial Manufacturing Co., 

643 West 4Sth Street, JVetv Yorl. 

The Oleomargarine Butter (Mege's process), has the 
general appearance of the usual style of good dairy 
butter. The texture presents some slight difference to 
the eye of an expert. The absence of some of the 
elements which give the peculiar aroma to the best 
quality of spring grass butter, tends to prevent the 
approach of any unpleasant change in this article, and 
it is thus enabled to resist the effects of time, as upon a 
long sea voyage. 

We have examined the process of manufacture, and 
find the product clean and wholesome. 

"While the best quality of dairy butter must still 
maintain its superiority, any departure from the most 
perfect manufacture will make the Oleomargarine a 
dano-erous rival. 



14 



This process utilizes valuable animal products, and 
makes useful in the kitchen and upon the dining-table 
nuicli that was formerly used for less important purposes 
and for this and its keeping qualities it should receive 
some recognition ])y the Institute. 

A. S. Heatu, M.D., ] 

E.0BT. J. Dodge, \ Judges. 

"VViLLET Seaman. 



The Medal of Excellence Awarded. 
A true copy of the Keport on file. 

D. E. GARDEN, 

Assistant Qlerlc. 







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